CALGARY, ALTA-Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) is contributing $100,000 to the initial development of the Innoventures Canada (I-Can) Centre for the Conversion of Carbon Dioxide (CO2). Under the leadership of the Alberta Research Council, the Saskatchewan Research Council, Manitoba's Industrial Technology Centre and Quebec's industrial research centre (Centre de recherche industrielle du QuÈbec), the I-Can Centre will help develop microalgae systems that could capture up to 100 million tonnes of CO2 from industrial sources such as coal-fired plants and oil sands projects. The microalgae, a valuable source of biomass, would then be converted into a range of industrial products and by-products such as renewable natural gas, hydrogen and biofuels. The NRCan funding will support key research and development activities and conceptual engineering, which will contribute to a detailed business case for an integrated pilot facility. I-Can acts as a mechanism to combine resources from industry, government and research organizations to conduct large research and development projects in Canada. I-Can's funding partners on this project include Shell Canada Limited, Epcor Utilities, Graymont, NRCan and the Alberta government.